The first vaccine against bovine mastitis developed in Europe

This past February, The European Medicines Agency (EMEA), approved the first vaccine against bovine mastitis. Using technological innovation, HIPRA, a company dedicated to research, production and marketing of animal health products, especially Biologicals, has achieved a new solution that contributes to improving the health of cows and, therefore, the quality and safety of their milk and its sub-products.

Introduction:
Mastitis is one of the most common diseases on dairy cattle farms. The affectation of a cow's udder also produces a decrease in production and quality of milk produced. There is also a considerable increase in costs for affected farms (as a result of treatments applied, the time allotted to them (management of the farm becomes more complicated) and the milk discarded) without taking into account the risk to humans when they consume milk treated with antibiotics.

The expert committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) granted HIPRA registration of the first vaccine against bovine mastitis in Europe at the beginning of the year.

Thus, STARTVAC^® has achieved, for the first time in a biological product of this type, authorization for marketing in the 30 EU countries. This represents a milestone for Animal Health professionals, who – until now – only had antibiotics available for controlling this disease.

After nine years of research based on the three groups of most highly prevalent microorganisms on dairy cattle farms across Europe (coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci), HIPRA has launched STARTVAC^®. This means we can now take advantage of this great technological innovation, and of this vaccine, which is characterised as a unique product. Its efficacy and safety have surpassed the demanding barriers of the EMEA centralized registration procedure.

STARTVAC^® is innovative in that, for the first time in the world, there is a vaccine that prevents the development of a layer, by the previously-mentioned bacteria, known as biofilm of slime. This biofilm, in addition to making the bacteria more pathogenic, protects against the action of antibiotics.

Moreover, STARTVAC^® is applied using a specific protocol in order to reduce infections at the time of greatest risk.

The use of this vaccine means there will be benefits all along the production chain, so that high quality milk can be obtained for the consumer.

For farmers, it means a reduction in the incidence of mastitis on their farm, while obtaining a higher quality product. Thus, their profits increase because, on the one hand, their milk production increases and, on the other, the other costs on their books decrease. Several European and American studies show that mastitis is the major cost and the most common disease on dairy farms of these characteristics. Its costs vary from €300 to €600 per case of mastitis per year.

For veterinarians, to have a product like this available, with a very high technical basis, will enable them to improve all milk quality protocols for quality on dairy farms, and provide a reason for customer loyalty.

For dairies, it will mean being able to obtain milk with better organoleptic qualities (decreased somatic cell count, lower risk of antibiotics, etc.) thereby improving milk production and quality and the quality of milk sub-products such as yogurt and cheese. Finally, consumers can get higher quality products for consumption by the whole family.

Not surprisingly, resistance to antibiotics by bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus has become one of the major emerging problems of medicine. Massive use of antibiotics like penicillin and more recently metacycline has led to tremendous rates of bacterial resistance. Between 20% and 40% of strains are currently resistant to metacycline.

Conclusion
The use of the first vaccine against mastitis, STARTVAC^®, applied with a protocol that reduces infections at the time of greatest risk to the animal, can help achieve different goals set by the various sectors involved: a decrease in use of antibiotics and improvements for human and animal health, improving the operating accounts of dairy farms by increasing milk production and reducing costs and increasing the organoleptic quality to achieve a product with higher added value for end consumers.